1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic transactions. More particularly, the present invention relates to electronic transactions for exchanging intellectual capital and for buying and selling various types of services.
2. Related Art
In a conventional model for generating intellectual capital, such as creative content, individuals are hired by, for example, an advertising or marketing agency to generate ideas, designs, and other creative content. Such individuals (sometimes referred to herein as “creatives”) form an in-house creative staff to such well known agencies as Ogilvy & Mather, J. Walter Thompson, and Saatchi & Saatchi. Clients of the agencies would pay for and receive the creative content generated by such in-house staffs. In such a model, a client receives the benefit of the creativity of the particular agency staff, and typically there is an emphasis on building a sustainable and exclusive relationship between the client and the agency. Usually, the cost for obtaining services from well known agencies that presumably employ the more creative and effective designers is substantial, and typically is out of reach for many small and start-up enterprises. Moreover, such businesses may not have the time or resources to devote to fostering the personal relationship, negotiating and executing written contracts, and engaging in the other activities associated with conventional transactions for creative content or other intellectual capital.
With the advent of the Internet and the growing use of electronic transactions to conduct business, some web sites have developed that provide a mechanism for locating and obtaining creative services at least partially through electronic transactions. Some of these sites function primarily as recruiting services, primarily for individuals functioning as “freelancers.” Examples of such sites include Monster.com, elance.com, guru.com, and instantwork.com. Other sites, such as HelloBrain.com, focus more on soliciting ideas. However, such sites suffer from numerous drawbacks. Such sites do not allow the many creative individuals to select the jobs on which they want to work, while providing timely solutions to the clients by individuals having the highest median reputation rating. Such sites do not easily provide for participation by a diverse group of creative talent. Such sites are primarily aimed at freelancers or persons looking for part-time jobs. Therefore, creative talent employed full-time who are only looking for a quick (on the order of minutes or hours) creative job are left out of the pool of possible respondents.
There is a need for an intellectual capital exchange that provides for electronic exchange of various types of intellectual capital, including creative content. Such an intellectual capital exchange would implement a reputation rating system so that buyers of intellectual capital would receive content prepared by highly creative sellers of intellectual capital. Such an exchange would balance job disclosure to members and job fill rate so that the job quota of responses is filled by a client's deadline with the highest possible average respondent reputation rating. Such an exchange would operate as a one-to-many exchange, (i.e., many potential sellers for each buyer), allowing the sellers of intellectual capital to select the projects on which they want to work, while maintaining a high level of quality solutions delivered to each buyer. Such an intellectual capital exchange would also include a diversity of creative talent, from freelancers and part-time workers, to those employed full-time.